SAN FRANCISCO - Scientists say a specially designed video game allowed older adults (60 to 85 years old) to dramatically improve their cognitive control and multitasking ability. The results lasted 6 months, which suggests that the older human brain is more adaptable than previously thought and can be improved through specially designed strategies.
The study "Video game training enhances cognitive control in older adults" is published in the Sept. 5 edition of the science journal Nature and the subject of articles in newspapers across the world. The Nature cover page headline called the work at the University of California, San Franciso "Game Changer."
A team of neuroscientists at the California university led by Dr. Adam Gazzaley worked with video game designers to create a game called NeuroRacer. In the game, players drive while trying to identify specific road signs that pop up, while ignoring other signs.
A report on the work in the New York Times stressed the early findings showing just how hard it is to do more than one thing at the same time. Even people in their 20s lost a quarter of their performance ability when asked to both drive and identify the signs, as opposed to just identifying the signs. People in their 60s and older lost two-thirds of their ability.
But after the older people trained, their performance was better than people in their 20s who hadn't trained. The adults also performed better on other memory and attention tests.
"That is the most grabbing thing here," Dr. Gazzaley told The Times. "We transferred the benefit from inside the game to different cognitive abilities."